Tragedy struck senior TDP leader and former minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao when his father Devineni Srimannayaraya passed away due to cardiac stroke on Thursday evening. Srimannarayana was rushed to Ramesh Hospital in Vijayawada, but the doctors could not revive him. He was 88. A pall of gloom descended on the Devineni household as the tragic news petered in.

Srimannarayana, locally popular as Chinni, was from Neppalli in Kankipadu mandal. Later, he shifted to Kanchikacharla. Though he was not directly involved in politics, he did campaign on several occasions for both his sons Deveineni Venkata Ramana and Devineni Uma. His elder son Venkataramana died in a train mishap. He is survived by three sons and a daughter.

Several TDP leaders rushed to Ramesh Hospital to offer condolences. Devineni Nehru’s wife Lakshmi, TDP corporator Devineni Aparna, Devineni Chandu and Vinay offered floral tributes at the hospital. Several leaders from all parties consoled Devineni Uma. They said Srimannarayana passing away was a great loss.

His last rites would be held on Friday at Kanchikacherla. TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu and several key TDP leaders are expected to call on Devineni Uma at Kanchikacharla.

Former Andhra Pradesh irrigation minister and senior Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader Devineni Umamaheswara Rao (Uma) is currently absconding. He is wanted by the CID for allegedly morphing an old video of Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.

“He (Uma) is absconding. He made a morphed video and displayed it in a Tirupati press conference,” a CID official probing the case told IANS on Wednesday.

According to the CID police, Uma allegedly illegally modified a 2019 press conference video of Reddy in which he reportedly spoke about the attractiveness of Tirupati as a location for professionals and used it to attack the CM in the run up to the high octane Scheduled Castes (SC) reserved Lok Sabha by-poll recently.

On April 7, Uma showcased this video and manoeuvred to gain a political advantage for the TDP in the run up to the by-poll.

The official said that the morphed video amounted to showing Reddy as saying: Nobody will come and stay in Tirupati when asked to do so. None of you will come and stay in a particular place if I come and ask you to stay. Any cardiologist or a highly educated person will prefer to stay in Hyderabad, Bengaluru or Delhi but nobody will prefer to stay in Odisha, Bihar or Tirupati.

“He displayed this video in the press conference, including taking care that the mouth (CM’s) is not visible using some form of stickering,” the official pointed out.

The official said that the video belonged to 2019 when Reddy spoke at Andhra Bhavan.

Following this incident, ruling Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party’s (YSRCP) Kurnool district legal cell president and advocate N. Narayana Reddy lodged a complaint with the CID on April 10.

On receiving the complaint, CID police in Mangalagiri booked a case against the former minister under IPC Sections 464, 465, 468, 469, 470, 471, 505 and 120 (b).

“As you have disrespected the chief minister by morphing his video and showcasing it to the press, we have included you as an accused in the case,” said the CID notice served at Uma’s Gollapudi residence in Vijayawada.

Police have already summoned Uma twice for a probe, on Thursday and Monday, but he evaded both the summons, including switching off his cell phone.

He was summoned to come with the tab he used in the press conference for investigation but is currently on the run.

The suicide of Gudivada SI Vijay Kumar has created a sensation in political circles. The TDP has given a twist to it, saying that the SI ended his life following harassment by the local Minister regarding gambling activities. But the reports have come out that the SI got involved with a local beautician which eventually led to his extreme act.

Now, the Gudivada DSP issued a notice to former Minister Devineni Uma to give details of his comments on the SI’s death. The baseless allegation was being used to mislead the people. The DSP has urged the political parties not to use the issues relating to the police for their political advantage.

The incident happened just a few weeks after the police raid on the gambling activities being carried out in Gudivada surroundings. From the beginning, the TDP has been saying that these gambling including the harmful ‘Kothamukka’ was being run along the bunds of fish tanks there with active support of Minister Kodali Nani.

Devineni Uma has been in the news frequently these days following his protests and arrest over heated exchanges with Kodali Nani. The latest police notice to him is seen as an indication of future crackdown that the Government will make on his activities.

TDP leader Devineni Uma Maheswara Rao on Friday said that the ruling YSRCP doesn’t have the right to take credit for the completion of Durga flyover as its construction began in 2015.

After Chandrababu Naidu became the CM of the bifurcated state of Andhra Pradesh in June 2014, the project was officially announced. When the Central government approved the project in April 2015, Vijayawada MP Kesineni Nani had said that once the tendering process was completed, the flyover would be finished in 18 months. The flyover was sanctioned in 2014 after the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) government came to power.

The foundation stone itself was laid in December 2015 by Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari.

Though the TDP government had claimed after coming to power that the flyover would be completed in August 2016 – the first official deadline for the project – the foundation stone itself was laid in December 2015 by Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari.

Talking to media, Devineni said, “The previous TDP government under the chief ministership of Chandrababu Naidu had envisioned the Kanaka Durga and Benz Cirlce flyovers. Kanaka Durga flyover is the crown jewel of Vijayawada city. Every single person in both the Telugu states are aware of Chandrababu Naidu’s vision. Because of his vision today that traffic congestion Vijayawada city will be a thing of past.”

The flyover was virtually inaugurated by Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and Andhra CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has attended the inaugural function of Kanaka Durga and Benz Circle flyovers in Vijayawada from Tadepalli camp office while union minister Nitin Gadkari participated from Delhi.

The 2.6-km long flyover was constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 502 crore. The road starts at Kummaripalem and ends at the Rajiv Gandhi Municipal Park, passing over Temple Road and Canal Road besides the Prakasam barrage. Gadkari also laid the foundation stone of 16 national highway projects in the state, amounting to a length of 1,411 km, at a cost of Rs 15,592 crore.

Senior TDP leader Devineni Uma fumed at the YSRCP dispensation for arresting the gas leak victims and villagers of R R Venkatapuram. In his latest tweet, Devineni Uma slammed the Jagan government for its insensitivity in arresting the gas leak victims who were protesting for a just cause. “The toxic gas leak in Vizag had killed 12 people and hundreds of people were hospitalized. Children and women were found unconscious on the pavements. The state government has not arrested even a single official of LG Polymers, but the government arrested against villagers. Cases were booked against women. How could you arrest women? Their only fault was seeking justice. The government should immediately release all the people who were arrested and cases should be lifted against them.”

On Monday, the police booked cases against five villagers and seven CPI activists under the Sections 147, 447, 353, 188, 271 and IPC 51 (A). Interestingly, the police also booked a case against a ‘woman’ (name was not mentioned) who climbed the LG Polymers plant gate. The only woman who jumped over the gate is Lakshmi whose nine-year-old daughter Grishma died inhaling the deadly toxic fumes emitted from LG Polymers factory last Thursday. Grishma’s mother Lakshmi made her way to DGP Gautam Sawang and fell at his feet seeking justice. She wailed and sought relocation of the LG Polymers factory from R R Venkatapuram saying it can endanger the lives of people in future too if it allowed to continue its operation.

If the state government today is able to manufacture Covid-19 testing kits and ventilators in Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone (AMTZ), it is thanks to the vision of TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu who envisioned setting up AMTZ when he was the state chief minister, former TDP minister Devineni Uma said on Wednesday

He said AP is the only State in the country that has successfully started manufacturing corona virus testing kits and ventilators, essential to contain the spread of the pandemic and the credit should go to Naidu for being the brainchild behind the project, Devineni Uma said. When Naidu dreamt of setting up Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone (AMTZ), the YSRCP leaders criticized the former chief minister calling his vision myopic, he added. The senior TDP leader said the state government under the chief ministership of Chandrababu Naidu had started the Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone Limited in order to cut dependency on imported devices and reduce the cost of manufacturing. The project was aimed to put India on the global map of high end medical equipment production and make health care products affordable and accessible, Devineni Uma said.

On Wednesday, AP industry and commerce minister Mekapati Goutham Reddy took a dig at Naidu saying the AMTZ was ignored by TDP president and N Chandrababu Naidu during his regime as the chief minister. “It was Y S Jagan who revived the project,” he claimed.

Reacting sharply to Goutham Reddy’s comments, Devineni said ‘“It is such a shame that Goutham Reddy today crediting Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy for rolling out Covid-19 testing kits and ventilators from AMTZ. The same people who are praising Jagan now once criticized Naidu for dreaming of the project,” Uma said.

The AMTC has started to manufacturing 2,000 testing kits for COVID-19 per day, making the State not only self-sufficient but also would be supplying testing kits to the entire country. The capacity will be increased to 25,000 per day.

He also accused Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy of showing keenness to see his full page photos in media rather than resolving the field level problems of the lockdown-afflicted people and frontline warriors treating the virus infected patients. Crores worth advertisements are being given to Sakshi very frequently while the poor people are not getting enough assistance, virus prevention not being given necessary funds and farmers suffering heavy losses.
Umamaheswara Rao demanded that the government release necessary funds and provide all required personal protection equipment to the doctors and health workers treating the patients.